![The Deal Closer satchel and laptop bag, one of the large yet stylish handbags made by She Lion.](/content/dam/images/g/s/z/0/o/o/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gsepy2.png/1480640836190.jpg)
When she started out as a lawyer, Melburnian Kate Dillon felt endlessly frustrated by the lack of large yet stylish handbags that could accommodate all her legal and personal paraphernalia. So last year, seven years into her legal career, she decided to launch seven of her own.
"Every woman has had the experience of a power outfit let down by a handbag," says the founder of fledgling brand She Lion. "That stupid Mary Poppins moment when you walk into a board room and pull everything out to find something."
Dillon's solution is a handbag with loads of compartments – for papers, a tablet, a smartphone or two, chargers, wallet, credit cards – and not to forget, lippy. The She Lion-branded umbrella, called the Go-Getter, even has its own internal pouch.
"The idea is work bags disguised as beautiful handbags," Dillon says. "Men have briefcases; we need a functional handbag."
The Negotiator bag
The bags come with sassy names like Rainmaker, Deal Closer and Tycoon. The Negotiator is a backpack with shoulder straps that can be detached after you've walked into work in sneakers and pulled out the heels.
She Lion's range is sold via its own website, online retailer The Iconic and the Qantas frequent flyer store. Dillon is in talks with a handful of physical retailers about stocking the range and is relaunching four items after early customers said they wanted smaller, lighter versions.
Entering the fashion world has been a steep learning curve for the 32-year-old, who works three days a week at Gilbert + Tobin Melbourne. Used to contracts and legal texts, she found herself grappling with issues as diverse as where to source ethically produced leather, how to manufacture in China, and when to design next season's bags.
"A lot of people thought I was crazy, having done so much study in law," says Dillon, who has a masters in law on top of her undgraduate degree. "I'm totally out of my comfort zone. Lawyers are trained to be risk averse; I've had to develop a risky side. But it's been liberating."